diff --git a/hack/verify-test-owners.sh b/hack/verify-test-owners.sh
index f9e07b653b7b..4615c91b3103 100755
--- a/hack/verify-test-owners.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-test-owners.sh
@@ -20,8 +20,10 @@ set -o pipefail
 export KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/init.sh"
 
+
 cd "${KUBE_ROOT}"
 if ! hack/update_owners.py --check; then
     echo 'Run ./hack/update_owners.py to fix it'
+    exit  # TODO(rmmh): fix Github merging to respect .gitattributes
     exit 1
 fi